To The Ends of the Earth
by Jezebel26
Summary: *THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE SEASON FINALE. PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.* The diner scene, as told from Killian's POV. Fluffy One-shot


**I just finished watching the season finale again (for the third time!) and this scene pulls at my heartstrings. I wanted to write something from Killian's POV, how I thought he must have felt during that scene at the diner. I don't own any of the dialogue or characters in this story. It all belongs to the brilliant minds of Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis. Please review! Thanks for reading!**

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We had just arrived back. I barely had a second with her before she took off again. It felt like ages since we had last been here. I had a duty - a task that she had assigned to me - to make sure that our stowaway was brought up to speed. To make sure that she took to this new land well.

By the time I had reached her, she was surrounded by family. She looked so happy, happier than I had ever seen her. She finally had found what she was searching for. I didn't feel right interrupting that moment so I stole into the back, away from prying eyes. I nursed my flask of rum, hoping it would dull the pain that I felt knowing that things were different now that we were back. She would go on, never once looking back at the time we spent together ensuring that she still had a future. A future that, for all intents and purposes, did not involve me.

I don't know how long it was, or how much rum I drank, but she appeared before me, looking more radiant than ever. I had never seen her look so beautiful. The way her smile lit up her whole face, and the way her eyes shined with hope - it was something I had wished I could bring to her, but alas, it was not meant to be. She broke the silence with her playful banter.

"So, do you think Rumplestiltskin was right?" she asked. I looked at her briefly before she continued. "I'm in the book now."

I smiled and chuckled a bit at her remarks. I looked down at the flask in my hands, avoiding her gaze.

"He said, everything besides our little adventure would go back to normal. Do you think that it is?"

I smiled slightly, finally brave enough to look in her eyes. "He's right, otherwise I'd remember that damn bar wench I kissed." I looked her dead on, catching the briefest of grins before she looked at me skeptically.

"How would that prove anything?" she asked. I smirked at her unbelieving face.

"I know how you kiss. I'd have gone after her." I stated matter-of-factly. "But I didn't. My life went on exactly the same as before." I looked away from her, toying with the strap of my flask. She smiled again.

"Yeah, must have been the rum," she joked.

"Everything's back to normal. You're a bloody hero, Swan." She blushed at my statement, still so unsure of herself even after everything that we had done over the last few days.

"So are you," she said. I smiled, not fully believing her statement. She pressed on.

"I wanted to thank you...Killian," I looked up at her, my smile vanishing from my face. She had used my real name. My heart caught in my throat at the change. She will never know what that meant to me in that moment.

"For going back for me in the first place in New York." She continued. "If you hadn't..."

"It was the right thing to do." I said. She looked at me for a moment, trying to suss things out in her mind.

"How did you do it?" she questioned. "How did you get to me?"

There it was. The question that I had been avoiding since I first brought her back. This was it - time to tell this wonderful woman what she drove me to do.

"When the curse was coming, I ditched my crew and took the Jolly Roger as fast and as far as I possibly could to outrun it."

"You outran a curse." She smirked at me. I returned it with equal favor. "I'm a hell of a captain." She smiled and chuckled a bit at that.

"And once I was outside the curse's purview, I knew that the walls were down. Transport between the worlds was possible again, all I needed was a magic bean."

"Those are not easy to come by."

"They are, if you've got something of value to...trade." I couldn't face her. I hoped she would put things together in her mind, and not make me say what it was that I did. I did not know how she would react, and I feared for the worst.

"And what was that?" She smiled again, so beautiful and radiant, and I knew that she needed to know the truth. The truth that I would give up anything and everything just to be with her.

"Why, the Jolly Roger of course." I smiled, but I knew that it did not reach my eyes. I tried to play it off, the gravity of the situation weighing heavy on me. There was a slight pause, as she stared at me incredulously.

"You traded your ship for me?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, the awe apparent.

I looked her dead in the eye, my heart swelling at her question. I shook my head once, and responded with a simple word, "Aye."

She closed the distance between us, and the next thing I knew, she had pressed her lips against mine in the barest of touches. I reached out to gently thread my fingers in her hair, just to make sure that this was real, that she was still there, and that she was kissing me. She wrapped her hand around my neck to hold my face against hers.

This was different than that kiss we shared in Neverland. That kiss was nothing but raw emotion that had boiled over. This kiss had fire and passion. I could feel every ounce of what she was feeling, and I didn't doubt that she could feel the same from me. I kissed her as softly as I could, afraid that if I took it further, she would scamper off again. It wasn't until I felt her deepen the kiss that I finally let myself go.

I used my good hand to cradle her head, her silken locks flowing between my fingers. I poured my whole soul into that kiss, so that she may finally come to realize how true I felt. I kissed her back with equal fervor, gently ghosting my hand over her face, her hair, her shoulder, anything that I could touch.

She had closed the gap between us, so close that I could feel the heat of her skin, despite the coolness of the night. I reveled in the glorious feel of her surrounding me. I could feel her fingers tangled in the hair at the nape of my neck. I could feel every intake of breath against my lips, every sigh, every moan, every touch. Everything that whispered hope. Everything that I could commit to memory in case another moment like this never occurred.

I don't know how long we spent in each other's arms. It didn't matter. All that mattered was this moment. I felt her pull away slightly, breaking the kiss. She was breathing heavy as she held my gaze. My hand had stopped on her neck, and my thumb grazed her chin as strands of hair slipped smoothly between my fingers. I could feel the slight increase of her pulse thump against my palm, and I felt a surge of pride knowing that I had an effect on her. That it appeared I had finally made a crack in the heavily fortified walls around her heart.

She looked at me for a moment, and smiled. It wasn't just any smile though - it was that same resplendent, radiant smile that she had earlier when she was around her family. She smiled that way for me, that damned beautiful smile, and I could feel the hope bubbling up in my chest. She pressed her forehead to mine and I knew in that moment that everything that I had told her father was true. I would go to the ends of the earth and back for this woman, no matter the cost. And in this moment, that same wonderful, strong, amazing woman was smiling at me.

I could feel the emotion breaking in waves in my head, struggling to burst forth. I knew that she required patience and perseverance, and too much too soon would cause her to flee. So I did the only thing that I felt could be done in order to convey everything I was feeling in that moment.

I smiled back at her, and captured her lips again.


End file.
